Though nine years have passed since U.S. troops entered Iraq to oust the regime of Saddam Hussein, work and life in Iraq are — to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes — nasty, brutish and hard.
Iraq is a resource-rich country, yet workers hardly earn enough to feed their families. Economic revival has been slow and sporadic, and working
Nine Years After Ouster of Saddam Hussein,
Workers Still Toil Under His Labor Laws
May 16, 2012
IKEA ‘also used Cuban prison labor’
May 16, 2012
As IKEA, the giant furniture manufacturer and retailer, investigates claims that East German prisoners were forced to make its furniture in the 1980s, allegations have emerged that Cuban prisoners were also made to build the corporation’s products in the 1980s.
The Frankfurt, Germany newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports it has seen East German files about a
Cuba’s Ladies in White Harassed by Pro-Castro Bullies
May 8, 2012
(video)
A file video shows the Ladies in White of Cuba being harassed and insulted by a pro-Castro, pro-Communist government mob.
(Click on photo to see video.)
Freer Travel from Cuba?
May 8, 2012
Will the Cuban Coast Guard, shown in this file photo from 2009, stop intercepting those who want to leave the Communist island? News reports indicate Cuba’s government may be on the verge of a momentous decision that could end a half-century of travel restrictions that make it difficult to leave the Communist-run island, even for
CFTU Supports Independent Union Call for
Boycott of Castro Government’s May Day Parade
April 30, 2012
The Committee for Free Trade Unionism supports the call in Cuba for a boycott of the Castro government’s May Day Parade on May 1st.
The call comes from the Independent Trade Union Coalition of Cuba (CSIC), a group comprised of National Workers’ Confederation (CONIC), the Unitary Council of Cuban Workers
CUTC), and the Confederation of Independent Cuban
Misused ‘Anti-Terror’ Laws
Haunt Pakistani Trade Unionists
April 30, 2012
Lahore, Pakistan – Rights groups in Pakistan are redoubling their efforts to win freedom for six incarcerated union leaders in Faisalabad, the country’s textile hub, who are currently serving a combined jail term of 590 years for supposedly violating the country’s ‘anti-terror’ laws.
The representatives of power loom workers –Akbar Ali Kamboh, Babar Shafiq Randhawa, Fazal
Cuba Still Holds 50 Political Prisoners
April 30, 2012
HAVANA – The opposition Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation estimates that the island’s Communist government is holding at least 50 political prisoners.
In an article in the Latin American Herald-Tribune, the Commission refers to 65 cases of people “sanctioned or put on trial” for political reasons, including 15 who are free on parole,
Ladies in White Urged Denial
of Summit Seat to Cuba
April 24, 2012
The Ladies in White, a well-known dissident group in Cuba, urged the presidents of countries participating in the recent VI Summit of the Americas to deny admittance to Cuba.
In a letter to the presidents, the Ladies in White stated:
The undersigned, on behalf of the women members of the peaceful Cuban movement known as the “Ladies
CFTU Urges Support for Coalition of
Independent Cuban Unions’ Affiliation with ITUC
March 13, 2012
The Committee for Free Trade Unionism is urging trade unionists around the world to support the Application for Affiliation with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) filed by the Coalition of Independent Cuban Unions (CSIC).
In an email sent to build support for the petition, the CFTU, along with the International Group for CSR in Cuba, noted:
The
Raúl Castro tells U.S. senators jailed American
‘no spy’
March 13, 2012
Havana – Jailed American contractor Alan Gross “was no spy,” Cuban President Raúl Castro said in a recent meeting with two visiting U.S. senators, Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont and Richard Shelby, R-Alabama.
Leahy told The Associated Press that Castro made the remark during a 2 1/2-hour meeting in Havana in late February. Leahy and Shelby offered to